FARM RECORDS AND ACCOUNTS 431 



records, maps showing orchard plans, lines of tile drain, 

 and many other kinds of records. 



ACCOUNTS WITH PERSONS OR FIRMS 



263. Object of bookkeeping. Whenever anything is 

 bought or sold on time, some record should be made of 

 the transaction. This will often save money. It may 

 save paying the bill twice. If accounts are not kept, the 

 bills have a way of creeping up in the most impossible 

 manner. Even if we cannot find any objection to the 

 individual entries, the total often seems impossible. The 

 fact is that while we have been buying on time in a happy- 

 go-lucky way, we are tempted to buy much that our re- 

 sources do not warrant. Best of all, such accounts save 

 one's friends. Most of the disputes about accounts are 

 because some one forgot rather than because of dishonesty. 



In the cities and larger towns, a duplicate sale slip is 

 now given with goods. The simplest way to keep accounts 

 with stores that give such slips is to keep these slips. Some 

 large stores keep the original slips for their own accounts, 

 and thus reduce the expense for bookkeeping. Systems 

 of this kind are fast replacing the old elaborate bookkeep- 

 ing methods. 



264. Methods of bookkeeping. Accounts for which 

 slips are not made out may be jotted down in a memoran- 

 dum book, if there. are not too many of them. If many 

 such accounts are kept, it is too hard to find the account 

 with any one man. It is then more convenient to post 

 them in a book in which each person or firm has a page. 

 The debit or charge items, what we pay, are put on the 

 left-hand page. The credit items, or what we receive, are 

 put on the right-hand page. 



